India unleashes its military on Pakistan after a terror attack stoked the feud between the nuclear rivals

An Indian officer from the Indian Central Reserve Police Force shouts slogans during preparations for the upcoming Republic Day parade, near the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Indian marks Republic Day on Jan. 26.

source

AP

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday unleashed
the country's military against rival Pakistan in response to a
terror attack by Muslim separatists that killed 44 on
Thursday.

Modi said his country's "blood boils" and gave his
military a "free hand" to determine "the timing, place and
nature of their response."

India and Pakistan have been bitter rivals for years,
and both countries have built nuclear arsenals to hold each
other at bay.

Modi unleashing the military has been called an
"abdication of political responsibility" that could lead to a
"super dangerous" conflict between the nuclear rivals.

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Friday unleashed the
country's military against rival Pakistan in response to a terror
attack by Muslim separatists that killed 44 on Thursday.

Ad

"I know there is deep anger, your blood boils looking at
what has happened. At this moment, there are expectations and the
feelings of a strong response which is quite natural," Modi said in a speech mourning
the police forces killed and those injured.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of training and arming
militants and smuggling them across the border into the Indian
region of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region on the countries'
shared border.

caption

A demonstrator next to burning cars during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu, February 15, 2019.

source

REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

Following the terror attack, where an explosive-laden truck
plowed into a bus carrying police forces, India said it had
"incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistan's involvement in the
attack. Pakistani-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad
claimed the attack, but Pakistan quickly denied any official
involvement.

"Our neighboring country thinks such terror attacks can
weaken us, but their plans will not materialize," said Modi of
Pakistan.

"Security forces have been given permission to take
decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response,"
Modi continued.

Rajesh Rajagopalan, a professor of international politic at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, tweeted that Modi's
statement was an "abdication of political responsibility,"
because he handed over control of the response to the military.

source

Reuters

Christopher Clary, an international affairs expert and
professor at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs &
Policy at the University of Albany, said that Modi unleashing the
military had the potential to get out of control.

While Clary told Business Insider he didn't interpret
Modi's words to mean he had authorized a major military action
against Pakistan, cross-border conflicts happen frequently.

India and Pakistan have been bitter rivals for decades, but
enjoyed a period of relative clam for the past few years. But
recently, both Pakistan and India have grown in nationalist
fervor, with online militias on Facebook and elsewhere lusting
for blood and mocking each other's militaries and nations.

Also, with Modi's Hindu-nationalist party facing elections
later this year, the Indian leader may feel pressured to make a
show of force.

If India engages in a cross-border strike as they appear
set to, "it would be hard on Pakistan not to do something
in retaliation. After a while, the back and forth can get super
dangerous," said Clary. "We don't have that many countries with
nuclear weapons that share a common border, so things can get
pretty hairy."

Additionally, the White House came down hard on Pakistan and
urged them to "end immediately the support and safe haven
provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil."